This week Christine Benz took a deeper look at the assertion that women invest more conservatively than men do. It turns out, it’s not so clear-cut — and to the extent that there are differences, they don’t appear to be the result of gender-related risk preferences. How Do Women Really Invest? from Christine Benz Other Recommended Reading Two Worlds from Morgan Housel Governmental 457 Plans as Compared to 401(k) Plans from Vorris Blankenship Tax provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act from Alistair Nevius State Regulators Probe Financial Advisor Subscription Fees from Mark Schoeff Jr. Make Fewer Things Matter: My Epiphany From Cutting A Pineapple from Harry Sit Who Applies for Disability — and Who Gets It from Kim Blanton Thanks for reading! What … [Read More...]

Recently I’ve received emails from a few different readers on the topic of tracking basis in a Roth IRA. That is, with a Roth IRA, you can remove contributions tax-free and penalty-free at any time, but how do you know (and how can you prove to the IRS) how much you have contributed over the years? The easiest answer is to keep the Form 5498 that the brokerage firm sends you every year. It reports all the contributions and conversions for the year in question. Should I Keep My Form 5498? from Mike Piper Recommended Reading Which Bonds Provide the Biggest Diversification Benefits? from Christine Benz The Best Inflation-Fighting Investments for Retirees from Christine Benz Money Troubles as an Early Warning Sign of Dementia from … [Read More...]

Next Saturday (3/27), I’ll be giving a presentation for the Detroit and Minnesota Bogleheads groups. But, since it’s via Zoom, anybody is welcome. The topic will be the “Cookie-Cutter Retirement Plan” concept. It will be from 10:30am – 12:30pm (ET), which will include plenty of time for questions/discussion. If you’re interested, you can find the details on the Bogleheads event calendar page. Recommended Reading Bill Bernstein on Why GameStop, Tesla, and Bitcoin Don’t Reflect the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ from Christine Benz The False Promise of U.S. Historical Returns from David Blanchett and Michael Finke Retirement Planning in the Post-4% World from David Blanchett The Great American Challenge: Retirement Income for Everybody from John Rekenthaler Mandating Auto-… [Read More...]

Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak of Morningstar recently hosted me as a guest on their podcast, The Long View. We discussed a range of topics, from Social Security planning, to tax planning, to asset allocation. You can listen at the link below. I hope you enjoy it. Mike Piper: Delaying Social Security Not Always a Good Deal Recommended Reading Save Like a Pessimist, Invest Like an Optimist from Morgan Housel In Praise of Target-Date Funds from Christine Benz Films About Dementia Help Us Understand It from Kim Blanton ACA Premium Subsidy Cliff Is a Slope in 2021 and 2022 from Harry Sit Why You Shouldn’t Pick Individual Stocks from Nick Maggiulli The Craziest Market I’ve Ever Seen from Nick Maggiulli Experian’s Credit Freeze Security is Still a Joke … [Read More...]

I recently learned that retirement writer/researcher Dirk Cotton passed away late last month. Through his blog, Retirement Cafe, Cotton taught me quite a bit over the years. I never had the chance to meet him in person, but in our email correspondence he was always very kind. Many of Dirk’s articles have been included in roundups here on this blog, but today I just wanted to (re)share a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them. The Prevalent but Problematic Probability of Ruin Why Retirees Go Broke The Mystery Of Dividend Preference And The ‘Spend Dividends Only’ Strategy The Limits of Simulation Honey, What’s Our Retirement Plan? Monte Carlo and Tales of Fat Tails Other Recommended Reading How Much Does Financial Planning … [Read More...]

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I recently gave a presentation for the Detroit and Minnesota Bogleheads groups about the “Cookie-Cutter Retirement Plan” concept. Here is the link to the Zoom recording. The organizer accidentally forgot to start recording until a few minutes into the presentation. (She had a lot going on, as she was also in charge of admitting people into the meeting from the waiting room, as well as administering a poll regarding the makeup of the audience.) But none of the important information was cut off. Essentially all you miss is me explaining that I hope you can use the material either as: A sort of rough-draft plan for your own retirement planning — with adjustments then made as … [Read More...]